Opinion: Are patient privacy laws being misused to protect medical centers?

In the name of patient privacy, a security guard at a hospital in Springfield, Missouri, threatened a mother with jail for trying to take a photograph of her own son. In the name of patient privacy, a Daytona Beach, Florida, nursing home said it couldn't cooperate with police investigating allegations of a possible rape against one of its residents. In the name of patient privacy, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allegedly threatened or retaliated against employees who were trying to blow the whistle on agency wrongdoing. As the litany of recent examples show, HIPAA is open to misinterpretation – and sometimes provides cover for health institutions that are protecting their own interests, not patients'.